Robert J. Willoughby

The Great Western Migration to the Gold Fields of California, 1849-1850

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The journey west, from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast, was made by some quarter of a million Americans during the 1840s and 1850s, and stands as one of the great human adventure stories of all time. When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, California, in 1848, the immigration took on an urgency and a scope that would never be matched again, though the numbers of migrants was eventually equaled over time by the slower pace of those who went to Oregon and followed later to California to put down more permanent roots. This work draws heavily from the diaries of 17 men and women who made the four month, 2,000 mile trek to California during 1849 and 1850. The text is divided into three main parts. Part One covers travel from the Missouri River to Fort Laramie, Part Two covers Fort Laramie to Fort Hall and Salt Lake City, and Part Three covers the trek from there to the Sierra Nevadas. Each part has chapters that detail specific parts of the trail, sites, or locations where the migrants found something important to write about. The diarists' accounts tell of the adventures, hardships, desires, concerns, deprivations, sicknesses, deaths along the way, and of crossing the last great obstacle--the ""Elephant,"" as many of them called it--the high ridge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland
• Seitenzahl: 304
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. August 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 496g
• ISBN-13: 9780786473946
• ISBN-10: 0786473940
• Artikelnr.: 36177128

Autorenporträt

Robert J. Willoughby is a retired history and government professor from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. He lives in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments    
Preface    
Introduction    
PART I: FROM THE BANKS OF THE MISSOURI TO FORT LARAMIE    
Getting Ready to Go    
Leaving from Independence    
Leaving from Weston/Fort Leavenworth    
Leaving from St. Joseph    
Along the Blue River Road to the Platte    
Other Roads to the Platte    
Falling in Along the Platte    
Leaving from Kanesville/Council Bluffs    
Fort Kearney    
Fort Kearney to the Platte Fork    
The Fork of the Platte    
Crossing the South Fork of the Platte to Ash Hollow    
Ash Hollow    
Sioux Country Along the North Platte    
Landmarks of the Western Plains    
Scotts Bluff    
On to Fort Laramie    
Around Fort Laramie    
PART II: FROM FORT LARAMIE TO FORT HALL AND SALT LAKE CITY   
Into the Black Hills    
Around Deer Creek    
Ferry on the Upper Platte    
North Platte Ferry to the Sweetwater    
The Sweetwater, Independence Rock and the Devil's Gate    
Along the Sweetwater    
Ice Spring    
South Pass and Pacific Springs    
Pacific Springs to the Road Fork on Big Sandy    
Sublette/Greenwood Cut-off    
Big Sandy to Fort Bridger    
At the Green River    
Toward the Bear River Road    
Around Thomas's Fork    
Soda Springs and Steamboat Springs    
Junction with Hudspeth Cut-off    
On to Fort Hall    
Fort Hall    
Fort Bridger to Salt Lake City    
PART III: FROM FORT HALL AND SALT LAKE TO THE SIERRA NEVADA   
Salt Lake to the City of Rocks    
Fort Hall to the City of Rocks    
Raft River Road    
Merger of Fort Hall and Salt Lake Roads at the City of Rocks    
Goose Creek to the Upper Humboldt River    
Starting the Humboldt Run    
Carlin Canyon    
Dust, Deprivation, Depredation    
Junction with the Lassen/Myers Cut-off    
The Lassen Route from the Humboldt to Goose Lake    
On to the Sink    
At the Big Meadow    
The Humboldt Sink    
The Truckee Route to the Crest of the Sierras    
The Carson Route Across the Desert    
Along the Carson River    
The Elephant-Up the Eastern Wall of the Sierras    
Promised Land-Into the Sacramento Valley    
Epilogue    
Notes    
Index